A Kiss Is Just A Kiss: Surprises
by Pixie3
Summary: Darien tries to find out what he wasn't told during 'Brother's Keeper'. First in a series.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own 'em, I'm just playing with them for a bit. I'm not making money by writing this, so no point in suing me!  
  
  
Life is always full of surprises, and not necessarily nice ones. I figured that out by the time I was ten, when Suzy Keeps told me she loved me and promptly gave me my first, real kiss. The next week, BOOM, she was in love with Joseph Spiney. So much for love springs eternal...or was that hope?  
  
***  
  
Darien sat on the ledge, letting his legs swing where they were hanging over the edge. Not exactly the safest thing to do considering how tall the building was, but he had never been the type of guy to do safe things.  
  
"You might want to consider moving away from the edge."  
  
He smiled, recognizing the lilting tones of his Keeper's voice. "And what are you going to do if I don't?" The former thief turned to look at her. Her expression was the usual serious, with hints of a smile trying to break through.  
  
"I can't do much of anything, considering you are larger and a bit stronger than me. I was just offering a suggestion," she replied. Claire carefully leaned against the ledge, facing the opposite direction to Darien. "It's very high up here."  
  
He grinned. "Yeah, I noticed that. I like it. No one but me and the birds. And maybe the occasional plane," he commented as the sound of jet engines could be heard.  
  
***  
  
Now, I know I'm nowhere near as smart as Kevin was, but I'm no country bumpkin. I could see that something was bothering Keep, and it wasn't just the height.  
  
***  
  
"So, how's tricks?" Darien asked jokingly.  
  
"Hmm?" Claire shook her head and looked at him.   
  
"Are you okay? I don't normally see you up here. Okay, I don't normally see anyone up here.."  
  
The Keeper sighed deeply, and this worried him as she was not the type to sigh deeply. At least not as long as he'd known her.  
  
"So much has happened these last few days. For us both," she finally said after a minute of silence.  
  
Darien nodded, finally getting what was up. "Kevin sure as hell knows how to put people through the hoops, even from the grave."  
  
"Don't say that!" Claire suddenly blurted out. "He..he wasn't making anyone do anything they didn't already want to. You chose to be a part of this from the start. You could have said no."  
  
"Yeah, and ended up in jail for the rest of my life."  
  
"Another choice you made," she replied, heavy sarcasm lacing her tone.  
  
He turned himself more towards her. "What is with you?" Darien queried, his tone hard.  
  
Claire seemed to become flustered and began to walk away. Before she got far, she felt his hand grab hold of her left upper arm, pulling her back toward him. They fell together and nearly went over the edge, but fortunately Darien kept them upright.   
  
He swung his legs over to the roof, keeping his hold on her. "Why did you come up here?"  
  
"I would appreciate it if you let go.."  
  
"Why did you come up here?" he asked again.  
  
"..of me," she finished tersely, still ignoring his question.  
  
"Answer my question first and I'll consider it."  
  
"Not good enough."  
  
"Okay, answer it and I *will* let go."  
  
She sighed and lowered her head in defeat. "There are some things that happened, while you were Kevin, that they didn't want me to tell you..."  
  
"What do you mean? What happened?"  
  
"I don't know why I came up here," she answered, gazing up at him. There were tears in her eyes, and his worry for her returned. He loosened his grip on her arm and instinctively pulled Claire in to a hug.  
  
She stood there stiffly, fighting the need to let go.  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
That simple phrase broke down the dams and she began to cry, burying her face in Darien's shirt, looping her arms around his waist. In an attempt to soothe her, he rubbed her back with one hand, the back of her neck with the other.   
  
Slowly the tears stopped, but instead of pulling away from him, Claire leaned her forehead against his chest. She took a deep breath to calm herself, and found herself greeted with that smell she had gotten when she had kissed Kevin..well, it was Darien that she had kissed, even if it was his brother in control at the time. It was no surprise then that the scent of sweat, mingled with a musky cologne, assaulted her senses now like it had earlier. That kiss had felt so..bittersweet. Reminded her of what had been and what could have continued being. If only they hadn't both been so stubborn.  
  
"Hey," Darien said quietly, gently nudging her to pull back, which she did.  
  
"Hey." She wiped at the wetness on her cheeks, and gave the former thief a little smile as he helped.  
  
"It's pretty heavy stuff, eh?"  
  
"Yes, I suppose it is," Claire replied, letting out a wry chuckle.  
  
"Wanna talk about it?"  
  
"Maybe not right now. Another time."  
  
Darien looked in to her eyes as she said this, then nodded his assent. Without giving it a second thought, he placed a soft kiss on her forehead, then took her hand and led her downstairs to her lab.   
  
Once there, he released her hand, then asked, "You gonna be okay?"  
  
"For the moment, yes," she replied, starting to sound like her old self. She even gave him a smile, telling him she was good to go.  
  
"I'll be around for a while, but if you want to go have a drink later..?"  
  
Claire pursed her lips, but it was obvious from the mirth in her eyes that she wanted to laugh. "You trying to pick me up, Darien?"  
  
"Can't stop trying," he replied, grinning at her.  
  
Unexpectedly, for both of them, the Keeper reached out and caressed his cheek, a sad smile suddenly appearing on her lips. She then shook her head gently and withdrew her hand to her side once again.  
  
With no further words, she entered her lab, leaving Darien to stand there and contemplate her actions. 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own 'em, I'm just playing with them for a bit. I'm not making money by writing this, so no point in suing me!  
  
When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge.   
  
Albert Einstein said that, and I can't really say I disagree with him. Flights of fancy, or fantasy, can become that much more important to anyone than everyday reality. It can do so much more for you, or cause that much more damage. Like with me.  
  
Claire and I had had a talk of sorts on the roof. She told me there were things that happened that I wasn't supposed to know about. Stuff she knew. And I had a feeling it wasn't something I would like since she was nervous about telling me.  
  
But since she went no further than telling me that, my fantasies of what happened started to go in to overdrive. I had all this time off right now, since the Official insisted on it, so I had nothing better to do. And with so little to go on, my curiosity, once again, was getting the better of me.  
  
***  
  
Darien slipped invisibly in to the video surveillance room of the Agency, closing the door behind him. He shook off the Quicksilver when he saw that no one was in there.  
  
"You'd think they'd have a camera on the surveillance room, in case someone decided to break in to it," he commented to himself as he hunted through the old cassettes. Lucky for him they were all well-labelled and he found the tapes with the days and room he wanted.  
  
He turned his head as he heard the door start to open. The former thief Quicksilvered just before the guard entered, keeping hold of the tapes. As the other man cleared the door, he slipped past and out, taking off through the corridors and then out of the building.  
  
When he got to his apartment he turned on his tv and vcr, then slipped the first tape in.  
  
After ten minutes of mind-numbingly boring non-events, he started to fast forward the tape, hoping that something might catch his eye.  
  
A couple of hours later, there was still nothing. He had watched himself go through with the shot that injected Kevin's RNA, various conversations in the Keep with Hobbes and Claire..nothing of consequence that would get him uptight.  
  
There was a knock on the door and he looked over to it. He wasn't expecting anyone, but that never stopped people from dropping by.  
  
He got up and walked to the door, looking through the peephole. He was surprised to see Claire standing out there, looking around nervously. Darien opened the door quickly and she rushed in before he had the chance to invite her in.  
  
"Lovely neighborhood, Darien," she commented sardonically.  
  
He closed the door and leaned against it. "Well, it's home." He watched her for a moment before asking, "Do you need something?"  
  
"I..well, I thought I might take you up on that drink. Assuming it's still offered?"  
  
Darien grinned. "I thought I crashed and burned on that one." He walked toward the kitchen in search of what alcohol he may have hiding in the cupboards. "Make yourself at home," he called out.  
  
There was no sounds coming from the living room, and it took a couple of seconds until he realized why. Darien ran in there to see Claire holding the vcr remote, eyes wide at what was on the screen.  
  
"Aw crap! Claire, I'm sorry, I..well, I couldn't help it. I wanted to know what was going on..."  
  
"So you went in and *stole* Agency property to feed your insatiable curiosity!?"  
  
The former thief moved from foot to foot, his expression guilty, yet penitent. "Well, yeah."  
  
"I..I can't believe you! You couldn't be patient, could you!? God, why did I think you had grown up?" she ranted. Claire threw down the remote and stormed out of the apartment.  
  
Darien went to go after her, but was hampered by the slammed door, and by the time he opened it, she had disappeared down the hall.  
  
He walked back in to the apartment, swearing to himself, "Crap, crap, crappity crap.."  
  
He knew he hadn't done exactly great, but he hadn't figured she would get so pissed off if she found out. He leaned down and picked up the remote, planning on stopping the latest tape and just taking them all back to video surveillance. He didn't deserve to know the whole truth.  
  
Darien looked at the screen and his jaw dropped. The picture was frozen on an image he never thought he'd see, but there it was, plain as day.   
  
He and Claire were kissing.  
  
***  
  
Okay, I take back what I said earlier. I am a country bumpkin.  
  
I don't know what happened between Claire and I..I mean, Kevin. No wonder she was so nervous. But now I wanted to know more, and I wanted it from her, not some tape.  
  
***  
  
Darien tossed the remote aside and grabbed his keys. He quickly left and locked up, then headed for where he figured she would be.  
  
He got out of his car in front of the Agency and walked swiftly inside.  
  
"Darien! Wait up, the Official wants to.." Hobbes began when he saw his partner enter the building.  
  
"No time!" Fawkes replied, headed in the direction of the Keep.   
  
Bobby watched him walk away, concerned for his friend's well-being. The only time he went to the Keep was when something was wrong with him.  
  
"Why were you kissing me?" the former thief questioned as he entered the lab. He realized his foolishness when Claire was nowhere in sight.  
  
***  
  
I am definitely not the brightest bulb in the package. Everyday I seem to prove how much more of the smarts Kevin got.  
  
***  
  
Darien slipped on to a stool to wait. He sat there whistling a tune and swinging his legs.  
  
After a while, Claire finally appeared at the door to the Keep and he hopped up. She promptly turned around and headed back where she came from.  
  
He caught up with her at the isolation room and turned her until her back was to the wall. He put his arms on either side of her to keep her in place.  
  
"Why did you kiss me?"  
  
Her eyes flashed angrily. "I didn't.." She paused, looking over his shoulder. He followed her gaze and saw the camera carefully watching them.  
  
"In here," he suggested, indicating the isolation room with a nod of his head, and she nodded in agreement.  
  
Once they were both in the room, Darien went to speak, but Claire beat him to the punch. Literally.  
  
He held his gut where she had placed her right fist only moments before.  
  
"God.." he gasped out in pain.  
  
"How *dare* you question *me*!" she yelled. She began pacing back and forth while he caught his breath. He had never seen her this agitated.  
  
"Claire, I want to know," he pleaded, giving her his best 'please-don't-hurt-me' look.  
  
"It was..I don't know why I was going to tell you in the first place. Maybe some silly attack of conscience.." She stopped pacing, took a deep breath to calm herself, then spoke again, facing Darien. "Kevin and I had a relationship back when we were in college. It lasted a year, and not long after, we never saw each other again. When he had control of you..well, all the old feelings came back so strong. I wasn't thinking straight, and neither was he."  
  
"So you kissed me."  
  
Claire rolled her eyes. "No, I kissed *him*."  
  
"In my body!"  
  
"Darien!" She moved closer to him. "It was him I was kissing, you just happened to be the..conduit."  
  
He snorted. "Great. First a lab rat and now a conduit."  
  
The scientist placed a hand on his left arm. "Don't think of yourself like that."  
  
Darien looked stunned. "Claire, you said it yourself. And don't deny that you see me as one of your experiments," he stated, his tone getting angry.  
  
She sighed. "I admit, there are times that I let my scientific side take over and I think of you like that, but for the most part, you are my friend. Don't think I don't feel terrible for thinking of you in such a way."  
  
The former thief was pleasantly surprised, but said nothing. Claire moved to the door.  
  
"I think we're done here..?"  
  
"One more question."   
  
She stopped, her hand resting on the doorknob. "Yes?"  
  
"What was it like?"  
  
A huge smile stretched across her face. "Like old times."  
  
"That good, eh?"  
  
A flush of embarrassment colored her cheeks. "Yes," she replied quietly.  
  
Darien walked over and took hold of the doorknob, covering Claire's hand. "You loved him?"  
  
She nodded this time, looking away from him. Next thing she knew, he drew her to him, holding her in his embrace. She felt a bit uncomfortable, but the hug didn't last long and once he pulled back, she opened the door, thus ending any other possible current conversation on this topic.  
  
The Keeper walked out of the room and back toward her lab, leaving Darien to run their discussion through his mind.  
  
The End 


End file.
